Reyes, Dickey lead Blue Jays over Rays 8-2

By
Staff The Associated Press

;

Dioner Navarro #30 of the Toronto Blue Jays (C) celebrates his two-run home run with teammates Jose Reyes #7 and Ryan Goins #17 during the eighth inning of a game on September 2, 2014 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Brian Blanco/Getty Images)

Jose Bautista’s streak of homering in five straight games ended, but he had two singles and an RBI for Toronto.

Dickey gave up two runs, struck out six and walked three.

“From a movement standpoint, I had a really good knuckleball tonight, and it was tough to control it,” said Dickey, who pitched at least six innings for the 13th time in 14 starts.

“I hit a couple batters, balls were really tailing off late in the zone, which speaks to how many balls they put into play hard — not many, which is good. Outside of that one inning, I felt like I was right on point,” he said.

The Rays got both of their hits and runs in the second.

Yunel Escobar scored the second run on Kevin Kiermaier’s sacrifice fly caught by Reyes, the shortstop, in short left field.

Aaron Sanchez and Todd Redmond each pitched an inning of hitless relief.

Reyes, who singled and scored in the third, had his 13th multiple-hit game in his last 29 games.

Hellickson gave up five runs on eight hits in 3 1-3 innings, the shortest of his nine starts since coming back from January elbow surgery.

“I think it was a matter of locating the ball to some spots that were better suited for the Blue Jays than us,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said.

A win on Wednesday or Thursday night would give the Blue Jays their first series victory at Tropicana Field since April 6-8, 2007.

“I don’t think anybody’s throwing in the towel,” Dickey said. “Who knows what a good September might do for us? If we can finish strong and worry about us, not other people, you never know what can happen.”

Rays: CF Desmond Jennings (sore left knee) was out of the lineup for the fifth straight game.

UP NEXT

Rays RHP Chris Archer (8-7) and Blue Jays RHP Marcus Stroman (8-5) are Wednesday night’s scheduled starters. Archer is coming off a loss to Boston Friday where he gave up a season-high eight runs in four innings.

FIRST PITCH

Former Blue Jays pitcher and one-time Rays bat boy Jesse Litsch threw the ceremonial first pitch. The St. Petersburg native, who announced his retirement last month, went 27-27 over parts of five seasons with Toronto.